Love, Hormones, and the Joys of Knowing Everything
by HowObjectionable
Summary: Teenage life is difficult. Teenage life when you go to a magical school and are just about legally allowed to use said magic outside of school is much more interesting, though no less troublesome. Arguments, crushes, exams...what else is new? Marauder era
1. Chapter 1

**Here we go again, another Marauder era story. Jennifer is mine, nobody else is. Enjoy :3  
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><p><strong><em>The Problem with Pre-Match Excitement<em>  
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><p>"Quidditch," Lily Evans said decidedly, in a voice so exasperated that her friend was surprised she wasn't tearing her hair out, "Is the source of all life's problems."<p>

Jennifer raised an eyebrow, a small smirk barely concealed by the mock serious expression. "Is it, darling? Do tell."

"You know!" Lily looked indignant now. Perhaps she'd caught the smirk. "All these boys – and girls – getting so worked up over a stupid game, causing fights in the corridors and showing off to all the first years and just generally making huge fools of themselves. I mean, do they really think the ability to catch a shiny metal ball gives them superpowers? Does hitting a ball through a hoop make you some sort of celebrity? Or above the law? Or make you into a hero? No! As if Remus and I don't have enough to..."

Jennifer, herself the current Seeker on the Gryffindor team, took neither notice nor offence towards Lily's rant. She had heard it all before; besides, it wasn't as if Lily _really _had anything against the game, after all – in fact, she had more than once been persuaded to a little competition. No, the problem was much simpler than that. The problem was male, Caucasian, with improbably messy black hair, glasses covering his brown eyes, and was currently approaching them. Jennifer decided not to alert Lily to this for the sake of a few more moments of the red-head's sanity. Her virtuous plan was ruined, however, as Lily's continued rant was cut short by the jarring (and, in Jennifer's opinion, rather attractive) voice of the Problem's companion.

"Oi, Evans!"

Lily whipped her head round, red hair flying around her face. Her bright green eyes narrowed as she glared towards the two main sources of utter irritation in her life. "What do you want, Black?" she asked, apparently thinking that by talking to only one of them, she only had to accept that one of them was there. Jennifer determinedly kept a straight face as she caught Sirius's eye and he winked at her. It wouldn't do to incense dear Lily any further than was about to happen.

"Prongs wanted to walk with you to class."

James Potter smiled in Lily's direction, indicating that this had, in fact, been his intention. The look Lily gave him in return was only not murderous because of the strained cordiality towards James that she had been trying to affect this year. "Couldn't he have found me alone, then?" she asked in a tight voice.

"Well, I wanted to escort your lovely friend, obviously."

Sirius and James were level with them now, the former linking his arm through Jennifer's, the latter only stopping himself from doing the same to Lily due to a sheer sense of self-preservation. Lily herself was paying him no heed, she was busy shooting her friend a withering look that clearly said "_what, again?"_ Jennifer smiled back at her, totally unashamed – her friend had no right to condemn her on-off fling when she couldn't even admit her own feelings that everyone was certain she had, and, like that, the four headed towards the class.

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><p>To give some background, it is important to note that it was two days away from an extremely important match, defining which of the two teams – Gryffindor or Slytherin – would be facing Ravenclaw in the cup final. Tensions, therefore, were running even higher than usual between the Gryffindors and Slytherins, and between the rest of the students as bets were taken and people chose their sides. The Ravenclaws were split down the middle; the Hufflepuffs were, traditionally, more on the Gryffindors side. The whole school was rife with excitement, hostility and apprehension, and the teachers did little to settle their students, some of them getting just as enthusiastic.<p>

Due to this, Gryffindor/Slytherin relations had gone beyond breaking point, and therefore joint Potions with the Slytherins, with the head of Slytherin house as the teacher, were always going to be unsafe. In the classroom, people were positioned as they entered, which did not help matters as inopportune groupings were made. Jennifer was sat next to an unfortunately manly Slytherin girl, as well as the other two 'Marauders', as they called themselves. Remus Lupin, resident Prefect and genius, was judged to be a lucky cauldron partner. Peter Pettigrew, however, was small, meek and seemed to be terrified of the Slytherin girl who towered over him. At the next cauldron were Lily, who was pleading for help with her eyes, James, Sirius and a guy Jennifer thought was called Avery, but could have been mistaken.

The class went ahead fairly uneventfully, however, until about twenty minutes in when the door opened and a lanky, dark haired boy came in, muttering his apologies for being late. Severus Snape hurried to the free position at the back of the class, unable to avoid his eyes lingering on the redhead at the front as he passed. Jennifer frowned, glancing up to see how Lily had reacted. Sirius and James were both wearing expressions of extreme dislike, but Lily was studiously looking down at her cauldron, determinedly not reacting. Poor girl had been acting like this since _that _had happened last year.

Beside James, the boy probably named Avery snorted. He leaned over to speak to the girl next to Remus, not bothering to keep his voice down as he said "You'd think he'd be over it by now."

The girl laughed, and nodded, while Lily stiffened and focused harder. Slughorn was at the back of the room, helping Snape to catch up. Jennifer glanced at Remus, who was frowning heavily. It was clear they had both reached the same conclusion – this could get nasty. "James," Remus muttered warningly, but if James heard him, it was ignored.

"Yeah," Avery continued. "I mean, it's not like she's a huge catch, just some silly little Mudblood who-"

Lily flinched this time, no doubt about it. James' wand was out of his pocket immediately. "That's not very nice," he said in a low voice.

Remus took a step away from the cauldron, but before he could say anything else, everyone was surprised by what happened next.

"Come on, Prongs, he's not worth the effort," Sirius said, nudging his best friend on the arm. James looked stunned. "We already have about three week's detention," Sirius went on.

"Since when has detention bothered us?" James demanded incredulously.

"I have a date I don't want to miss," Sirius pointed out with a half glance at Jennifer. "And the game's in about two days..."

"Oh, right, because they'll get rid of two of the Chasers," James scoffed. It was clear that he was angry, and Sirius was doing little but redirecting that anger towards himself. "Look, _mate_, if your too worried about being punished to get involved-"

Perhaps fortunately, it was at this moment that Slughorn returned to the front of the classroom. The rest of the lesson went ahead in a prickly silence for everyone at Lily's cauldron – she was upset, James was angry at both Avery and Sirius, Sirius was annoyed at James, and Avery...well, Avery was an arse.

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><p>"Oi, Avery," James called as the sixth years spilled out of the classroom. The Slytherin boy looked back at him contemptuously, turning and muttering something to his friend. The word 'Mudblood' was clearly distinguishable again as he continued to walk away until he found himself with his feet attached to the ceiling with James's wand trained on him.<p>

"I said leave it!" Sirius was irritated now, looking away from Jennifer, who had been telling him the best way to remove the bright green potion stain on his face. "What good'll it do, Prongs? He's just calling her names, Evans isn't even that bothered, are you, Evans?"

Lily looked startled by his direct appeal to her, but then she gathered her wits, shaking her head. "No, he's right, James, it's fine, not a problem, just let him go. He's not worth the trouble." Jennifer noted Lily's use of the first name; she was attempting to placate James.

He ignored her, instead glaring at Sirius. "Since when did you turn into such a good boy? Too much of a coward to teach this scum-" he flicked his wand and the struggling Avery jerked in midair "-a lesson?"

"Who's a coward?" Sirius demanded, angry now. "You're not 'teaching anybody' a lesson, you're showing the hell off for _her._" He jerked a thumb at Lily, who was looking weary of the whole thing already and appealing to Remus for help. "She's not _interested, _James, and she never will be!"

A vein in James' forehead twitched. "Just because _you _seem to be alright with people saying M...saying _that," _he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Doesn't mean that decent people are going to just sit back and-"

"_Decent _people? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was talking to you brother."

A sticky silence. Jennifer's hand had flown to her mouth, unable to quite believe James had said what he had. Lily looked similarly shocked, while Remus was massaging his forehead in clear exasperation.

"James...that's not..." Peter began uncertainly.

"Oh, shut up," James spat at him.

"That's right, start on him, too," Sirius' voice was raised now. "Who do you think you are, some sort of prince? You're no better than any of us, and you think you're some sort of superhero. Is it because of your money? Your _pure _Gryffindor blood? Who died and made you leader, anyway? You're just some rich kid spoiled by mummy and daddy."

"You weren't complaining about 'mummy and daddy' when you were hurrying over, begging for somewhere to stay because your own family couldn't stand you!"

"Oh, and I would _want _to be cared about by _them_?"

"I don't know, you don't seem all _that _different to them sometimes."

Sirius' hand plunged into his pocket. James swivelled around, his wand now pointing at Sirius, leaving Avery to fall to the ground in a heap. The Slytherin got to his feet in a hurry, running away as fast as his legs would carry him.

"That's enough!" Remus' voice was sharp as he hurried forward, grabbing James' wand arm and forcing him to lower it, while Peter attempted to do the same to Sirius. The girls watched, Lily looking faintly nauseated by the whole thing. "You're both behaving like _animals."_

James and Sirius both looked ready to make some sort of sarcastic resort, but spying the two girls watching, both closed their mouths in a grimace. Sirius shook Peter off, glaring across the hall at James. "You," he said, "Are such a _dick _when you don't get what you want." With that, he turned and stormed away.

"Yeah? Well fuck you too!" James yelled after him, marching off in the opposite direction after another glance at the rest of the assembled company.

The four remaining looked at each other. "I'll go after Sirius. Wormtail..." Remus started

"Got it," Peter agreed, looking close to tears as he scrambled after James.

"I was...going to say leave James alone..." Remus muttered. "Not that _any _of them _ever _listen to me."

"What the _hell _was that all about?" Jennifer demanded of both him and her friend. "That wasn't just about Avery. If they don't square themselves up, we have _no _chance of winning against Slytherin on-"

"Not everything is about Quidditch, Jen!" Lily cried, exasperated, turning and walking in the same direction as Sirius had gone.

Jennifer stared after her, turning back to Remus, her eyes demanding an explanation.

Remus smiled wanly. "James...can be kind of a dick when he doesn't get what he wants," he explained. "Are you coming?"

Jennifer nodded, and together they hurried after Sirius and Lily, to calm them both down and salvage what was left of this situation.

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><p><strong>Reviews make me happy :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading last time, apologies for a couple of typos I noticed. Enjoy :)  
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><p><strong>The Problem with Teamwork<br>**

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><p>The fact that James Potter and Sirius Black were no longer on speaking terms was big news in the school. Very big. Each group of people who heard the news took and reacted to it in a different way, some with voyeuristic glee, and others...well, others weren't taking it so well.<p>

The rain was pounding on the changing room roof, the weather outside reflecting the mood of the team inside. The Gryffindor Quidditch team were all feeling the awkwardness exuding from two of their three Chasers, and every one of them was trying to ignore it in their own way. The two Beaters –third year Jonathon Emerson and his 'mentor', fifth year Ruth Kelly – were swinging about their bats aimlessly, discussing loudly the best way to hit a Bludger away from a team member should the need arise; this being very likely due to their competition today. Finley Russell, their seventh year Keeper, was throwing a Quaffle to Jennifer, who was catching it to throw back only half the time, too busy glaring at James and Sirius alternately. James and Sirius themselves were standing at opposite ends of the room, determinedly not looking at each other. In the centre of the changing room, Mary MacDonald, third Chaser and team captain, was doing little but getting angry.

"Look, you two. I don't give a shit if you hate each other beyond the normal range of human emotion, you are my other Chasers and you need to communicate with me _and each other _if we're going to win this thing!"

James turned to face her, one eyebrow raised. "I don't need _him _to win anything," he said smugly.

"You need _him _if you want to stay on my team, Potter!"

"Come on, Mary, sweetheart, where're you going to find another Chaser with half an hour to the game?"

On the other end of my room, Sirius snorted. "Must be nice," he said loudly to nobody in particular, "To be so confident and so _wrong _about how irreplaceable you are. I mean, if he was a better Chaser, maybe, but..."

James' wand was pointed in a second, there was a flash, a shout of "_Langlock!" _and Sirius' tongue was now attached to the roof of his mouth. "That should shut up that ignorant babbling," James said, beaming at the rest of the team.

Just because Sirius couldn't move his tongue, didn't mean he couldn't point his wand. He was getting pretty decent at non-verbal spells. A flash; James' legs were suddenly useless, shaky and jelly-like. He fell to the ground, but not before James pointed his wand again and-

"Enough!" Mary yelled. Finley immediately dropped the Quaffle he was holding, and together he and Jennifer cancelled the spells cast by the two Marauders. "You two are _off my team!_ Get out of here!"

"What?" James and Sirius both demanded while the former scrambled to his feet.

"You can't _do _that!" Sirius added. "It's his fault, not mine!"

"I don't _care _who's at fault, Black, take those robes off, you two are banned from my team until I say so. Out. Now."

"Mary," Ruth muttered. "There are twenty minutes until the game starts..."

"Well we need to find subs quickly then, don't we?" Mary rounded on the rest of the team. "Who knows someone who can play?"

The four Gryffindors looked at each other, before Jennifer leapt to her feet. "I know one person. Not brilliant, but an alright flyer. I can go if you want me to...?"

"Get going, Stone. Who else?"

Jennifer didn't stay to find out who was finding the other substitute Chaser. She hurried past Sirius onto the pitch, not stopping to register the almost betrayed look on his face. It wasn't _her _fault they were behaving like idiots.

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><p>Sirius's expression when she left the changing room was nothing to James's when she re-entered. Both boys were changed out of their Quidditch robes now, looking rather mutinous. Next to Jonathon stood a fairly apprehensive looking third year girl who Jennifer recognised as Rosella Steen, wearing red robes which were slightly too big for her. Jennifer had seen her try out; she was a pretty good player for a kid, just not as good as James or Sirius.<p>

The person Jennifer had brought had never tried out, but Jennifer knew for a fact that she was good at flying. And there was that tiny spiteful bit of her that was enjoying James's – and to a lesser extent, Sirius's – expression as she and Lily entered the room.

Mary looked up, nodding approvingly. She, too, had seen Lily fly, and fly well, in their races around the lake in their first year. "Alright, Evans, suit up."

Lily nodded, not looking at either James or Sirius as she walked forward to choose spare robes of approximately her size.

"What the _hell_, Jennifer?" James demanded. "Since when-"

"You don't get to question my team, Potter," Mary interrupted. "I thought I told you two to get out?"

Grumbling, Sirius and James stalked out of the changing room, pushing each other as they got to the door at the same time.

The team watched them go, before Ruth spoke. "While we all appreciate your sadism, Jen...you'd better be sure about this."

Lily reappeared as if on cue, toting the abandoned Cleansweep of one of the boys. She certainly looked the part, her red hair on the red robes giving her a blazing, dangerous look. "I only agreed to this," she said calmly, "Because that...Avery is on the team."

"Of course you did, my love," Jennifer said cheerfully. "Mary, Lily's ready."

Mary turned from Rosella, who she had been filling in on the game's tactics, to deliver the same speech to Lily. Jennifer glanced at her watch. One minute until game time. This should be interesting.

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><p>In the stands, the four Marauders watched as the seven red-robed and seven green-robed players flew onto the field, the commentator announcing all of their names as they flew, his voice quieter than usual over the pounding rain.<p>

"Evans is on my broom," James noted, tightening his hood and sounding surprised and oddly elated. Beside him, Remus struggled not to roll his eyes.

"He'll be sniffing it when he gets it back," Sirius stage-whispered to Peter, who covered his mouth in a vain attempt to stop a laugh getting out.

James twitched. "Hey look, Moony! Regulus Black is flying in a straight line. I suppose at least one of them had to be decent."

"Be quiet, both of you," Remus snapped. "It's bad enough that you've embarrassed yourselves already, will you just shut up and watch the game?"

Sirius and James started immediately yelling their protests, each blaming the other for their suspension from the team, voices getting louder and louder until-

"You guys, Evans just scored," Peter interrupted quietly. "She's actually pretty good."

James abruptly was quiet, suddenly paying abrupt attention to the game, squinting through his water-logged glasses. Usually, Remus would have charmed them for him, but, well, he was irked. Sirius grumbled, but reluctantly turned again to pay attention to the game. He figured that watching the girls weave in and out in the rain was much more interesting than the specky git.

The game, however, went downhill after the good start. Avery whacked in three goals and an admittedly well-played hit by one of the Slytherin beaters had Finley injured enough to have to be sent off. With no Keeper, the Slytherins scored goal after goal, and the Gryffindors were so far behind that catching the Snitch would solve nothing. The rain seemed to get heavier, making Jennifer's job even harder. On the opposite end of the pitch, Regulus was circling as she was, searching for that elusive little metal ball. Mary scored, then Rosella. If the Snitch was caught now, they'd win. Suddenly, they could still do this. Lily took aim, but her shot was blocked by the Keeper, and suddenly Regulus was diving and there was no way that Jennifer could catch up, though she sped towards him – they were going to lose, there was going to be no final – and then a Bludger hit by Jonathon connected with his arm, throwing him off course...and Jennifer's hand closed around it.

It took everyone a few minutes to notice what had happened, but as soon as they did, a cheer went up, rising over the pounding rain as the teams flew towards the ground. Jennifer may have caught the Snitch, but it was third-year Jonathon that was the match's hero. If it hadn't been for him, as the team roared at him in congratulations as they hurried back to the changing rooms, Regulus would have caught the Snitch and it would have been all over.

Entering the changing room, sodden but elated, Jennifer threw her arms around Lily. "You were wonderful, sweetie!" she exclaimed "Mary, sure you don't want to replace Potter permanently?"

"Don't tempt me," Mary shouted over, grinning as she ruffled young Jonathon's hair. The kid was beaming, thrilled with what he'd managed to do. The replacement Chaser, Rosella, was staring at him admiringly, and the rest of the team were amused to notice him blush.

The injured Finley was looking much better. His sprained arm was in a bandage, and he was grinning. "Nice one, guys," he congratulated them. "Maybe I'll actually play in the final against Ravenclaw."

At the mention of the final, a great cheer rose up in the changing room, and Ruth yelled "Party in the Common Room!"

"Showers first, please," Lily said hastily, gaining many laughs and much agreement.

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><p>"Nice game, Jen," Sirius's voice said from behind her. The Common Room was filled to bursting point, everyone talking and laughing and congratulating, eating food that had magically appeared from the kitchen. Jennifer and Lily were both being entertained by Peter, who was showing them a Muggle card trick rather unsuccessfully. Jennifer didn't have the heart to tell him that you didn't need a wand for that kind of trick, as she had learned from her Muggle father. Lily was struggling not to laugh. On hearing Sirius's voice, both girls turned, the stern expression on each of their faces matching.<p>

"Peter, why don't you go show Remus your trick?" Jennifer asked him. Taking the hint, he scarpered, although not too far to watch what was happening. "What do you want, Sirius?"

Sirius seemed surprised by the cold reception. "I was just going to ask about our date-what do_ you _want?"

James was approaching from the other side, clearly on his way to congratulate Lily. He glared at Sirius. "I'm just coming to congratulate Lily for clearing up _your _mess. And ask her if she was interested in joining me on the Hogsmeade weekend."

"_My _mess? Don't be such a-"

"If you think I'm going _anywhere _with you, Potter, when you're behaving like such an _idiot..."_

Sirius started to laugh, but it was abruptly wiped off his face as Jennifer spoke. "Same goes for me, Sirius. I'm not setting foot into Hogsmeade with you. You nearly lost us this game, you and your stupid fighting, both of you."

With that, both girls turned and walked purposely over to talk to Remus, who was patiently explaining to Peter that his card had not, in fact, been the queen of hearts, leaving the two warring boys staring after them, identical expressions on their faces.

"Nice game," Remus greeted them, grinning as they approached.

"Thanks," both girls said automatically, each sitting on an arm of his chair.

"What did you say to them?" Peter asked, nodding in the direction of Sirius and James. "Turned them down?"

"You'd think James would be used to it by now, wouldn't you?" Lily said dryly, earning a grin from all three of them. "You and Sirius are back 'on' then, Jen?"

"Not if he keeps behaving like such an arse, honey," Jennifer replied, fanning herself with a few of Peter's cards.

Remus smiled. "Maybe this'll be the kick they need. I'll talk to them; see if I can't get to the bottom of this. It's crazy."

"Yeah. I'm sick of dealing with their fights in the corridor. I'd do pretty much anything to get them to quit it," Lily sighed, looking wary as the three of them were suddenly smiling at her rather eerily.

"Anything?" Remus repeated, with a glance towards James, who was now moodily mashing up crisps in a bowl to crumbs.

Lily groaned.

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><p><strong>Review? :3<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to my reviewers, hope you enjoy :)  
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><p><strong>The Problem with Dating<br>**

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><p><strong><strong>It was the first weekend in May, an opportunity for pumped-up males to woo the objects of their affection in the form of a date to the village of Hogsmeade. Of all the wacky schemes that Lily had found herself involved in, it was clear that this one was causing her the most regret. Sirius and James were still annoyed at each other. Sirius and James were still not talking, but had come to a grudging understanding that the fighting would stop, at least temporarily. This understanding was due to the fact that, thanks to Remus and Peter's combined pleading, Lily Evans was on a date with James Potter. James had, at this point, probably forgotten that Sirius even _existed._

"You look gorgeous, darling," Jennifer said cheerfully. Her encouragement was not welcomed; Lily's eyes met hers with a look of utmost loathing.

"You did this," Lily accused, hissing under her breath. It wasn't hard to understand what she meant; Jennifer had taken to the task of preparing her friend for a date with extreme enthusiasm, from hair styling to make-up, to a green dress that showed off slightly more than perhaps necessary while still managing to look tasteful. Jennifer was proud of her creation, and the happy, slightly dazed look on James' face showed that he approved just as much, but the redhead was looking like someone had just committed a murder – or was about to. Some people were never happy.

The girls were walking slightly behind the two boys as they entered Hogsmeade. The plan was that, by allowing the two to walk together, they might begin to talk to each other and actually start to sort the problem out. This plan was not going so well; the boys _were _walking together, but their minds were clearly elsewhere – James' perhaps on how to woo Lily on this date, and Sirius' most likely on what would happen _after _the date, if he was very good and very lucky.

Inside the village, the foursome decided they would split up, meeting back at the Three Broomsticks in two hours to have a drink together before heading back to the castle.

"Where would you like to go, Lily-petal?" James asked, offering his arm with a grin.

"Just Lily is fine," she replied dryly as she was lead off. Apparently, James' had interpreted her speech as "take me for some tea and cake", as she was being whisked in the general direction of Madam Puddifoot's tea shop.

"Let's go to Spintwitches," Jennifer said in answer to Sirius' questioning look. "I'm out of broom polish."

"How romantic," Sirius snorted, leading the way.

As they walked towards the sporting shop, Jennifer's eyes travelled up to the outline of the Shrieking Shack in the distance, slightly raised from ground level by the hill it rested on. "Apparently the ghosts and ghouls were at it again on Tuesday. D'you think it really _is _haunted?"

Sirius replied absently, distracted by the broomstick servicing kit in the window from her question. "No, of course it isn't."

"Last time I asked, you said you thought it was," Jennifer replied, frowning and raising an eyebrow.

Sirius turned to face her, catching up on the conversation he was having as he did so. "Oh, you mean the shack. Yeah, it's haunted alright."

Jennifer just blinked at him. "But you said-"

What followed was what would probably be referred to as a 'shut up kiss'. After several seconds, Jennifer pushed him away, prodding his chest accusingly. "Did you _seriously _just kiss me to get me to drop the subject?"

"Did it work?"

A beat of silence, before Jennifer laughed. "Alright, alright. Fine. I don't see what your problem is, but whatever."

Sirius looked smug, then, suddenly, he was laughing too. "Can you _imagine _what Evans would do to Prongs if he tried that?"

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><p>Lily and James were, actually, getting on reasonably well. He had bought her tea, as well as some shortbread, and the two were currently discussing how this place was far too warm and cramped for any sort of human comfort.<p>

"At least the tea's good," James said, finishing his cup. "Watch as I read my fortune." He surveyed the leaves in the bottom of the cup, putting on an appropriately mystical voice as he did so. "I see...a gorgeous redhead in my future...she's realising that I'm not so bad after all...she's falling madly in love with me! And now we're getting married...having little bespectacled children that are the spitting image of their devilishly handsome father..."

"I think Professor Kalani would give you a D for that prediction," Lily replied, but James was pleased to notice that there was gentleness to her usual scorn.

"Dumbledore's _this _away from taking the subject off the curriculum, anyway," James replied, shrugging. Both were now on their feet, leaving the tearoom. The couple – what a phrase, what a wonderful phrase for James to be able to think! And it would be true, in the official sense, soon enough, he knew it – began to walk towards Honeydukes, where Lily intended to buy various wizarding treats to send to her ever-wondering mother for Mother's day the next day.

They spent a good twenty minutes in Honeydukes, leaving with considerably lighter money bags than when they entered. Lily was laughing at some terrible joke that James had made – she was so pretty when she laughed – and James' hopes were soaring as Lily allowed him, without event, to take her hand.

Outside the Three Broomsticks, however, was where it was all about to go wrong. In the window, they could see Sirius and Jennifer, already at a booth, waiting for them to join them. And that would have been fine, if James hadn't caught the eye of a certain Slytherin boy who was walking past, a Slytherin boy who was the cause of pain for Lily and who had recently hexed Peter in a way that had, as of yet, gone without vengeance.

Severus' eyes darted from James' face to his hand, to the hand it was connected to and to the back of the head of the girl whose hand he was holding. His face drained of the little colour it had. The black eyes were darting more quickly between James and the girl who had not yet noticed him.

James had seconds to decide what to do. Inside the pub, Jennifer and Sirius were leaning their heads close together, giggling and whispering about whatever couples – volatile as that pairing were – whisper about. Beside him, Lily was smiling at him in a way that she'd never smiled at him before; the look in her eyes, of trust and happiness, was not one that he associated with her gazing at him, and was stirring his soul (and other places, if he wasn't careful). Snape's eyes were narrowed as James caught his eye again, and James was filled with a million irresistible emotions at once: hatred for Snape and attraction to this beautiful woman who was holding his hand the two strongest, and because of these, he kissed her.

Time seemed to stop as James allowed himself to be overwhelmed by her, and a spark of joy lit up his brain as her stiffness seemed to melt away and she put her arms around his neck, and they were kissing, and she was filling his brain, and he had wanted this for so long, and-

They broke apart, looking at each other, speechless. Inside the Three Broomsticks, their friends had clearly noticed what was going on; both were staring, slack-jawed, out of the window at the scene.

Lily's mouth curled into a small smile. She opened her mouth to speak when a loud bang suddenly interrupted the tender moment. Lily whirled around to see the source just in time to catch Severus running in the opposite direction from the angry scorch mark his wand had left in the ground. Her expression changed, from a smile, to shock, to hurt as she put two and two together. She spun back to face James, her eyes looking fiery. "James," she asked steadily, desperately trying not to let her voice shake. Inside, Sirius and Jennifer were on their feet, hurrying out to diffuse the situation. They were unsure of what had been going on, but the bang followed by the expression on Lily's face, was enough that intervention seemed necessary.

"Was that intentional?" Lily asked him, her voice a low whisper. "Tell me it wasn't intentional. Please."

James hesitated. He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want her to think that he had only kissed her because of _that._

Lily clearly took his silence as an answer. "How _could _you, James?" she demanded, her eyes brimming with tears of anger and distress. "I thought this was going so well. How could you..._use _me? Is that what I am to you? Some trophy, some...some _thing? _I will not be used as your weapon, James Potter! You arrogant, smarmy _bastard!"_

"No...Lily, I..."

"Save it, Potter." Lily turned on her heel and stormed off. Jennifer, who had been standing in the pub doorway with Sirius, glared at James.

"Way to mess up," Jennifer said coldly, before following Lily. She paused, turning to Sirius. "Are you coming?"

"Hang on a minute," Sirius frowned. "He didn't do anything that bad. He would have kissed her anyway, and it's not like Evans wasn't enjoying it."

Jennifer rolled her eyes, muttering some cross between "men" and "pigs" as she hurried to catch up with her hurt friend.

Sirius and James stared, before turning to each other. There was a moment of awkwardness before Sirius spoke.

"Women, mate. I'll never understand them."

"You're telling me," James replied, the tingly feeling on his lips at odds with the weight in his stomach. "Fancy a drink?"

Sirius nodded, and the two friends re-entered the pub, where James and the remainder of his money would drown his sorrows.

* * *

><p>Lily had been silent the whole way up to the castle, only making sounds in response to Jennifer's many attempts to start conversations. She had ranted about James, asked about the date, talked about the weather, but to no avail.<p>

The two girls sat in the common room, which was still relatively empty due to the third years and up being, for the most part, still in Hogsmeade. Lily stared passively out of the window, to the point where Jennifer was almost feeling uncomfortable. In the corner, bent over a ton of books, were Remus and Peter. Peter had to stay away from Hogsmeade due to needing to study for a make-up test, and Remus had agreed to stay back to help them. Both seemed focused, but as Jennifer struggled with Lily, she suspected they were paying more attention than they seemed to be, trying to find out why their friends hadn't returned with the girls and how the plan had went.

"So didn't your mum say Petunia was moving to Surrey with that creepy fiancé of hers? They'll be married soon, I guess, so at least you won't have to put up with them during the summer anymore," Jennifer said, desperately reaching for conversation topics as far from James and Snape as possible.

"Vernon is exactly the kind of person who will make Petunia worse," Lily said sadly, taking to the topic of her sister with the wistfulness that she always did. "He's even more judgemental than she is, and she's been bad enough since we were kids when..."

"When you got into Hogwarts, yeah," Jennifer interrupted, but Lily's mind was already in a bad place. 'When I met Severus', she had been about to say; quite possibly the last thing she should be thinking.

"I'm going to bed," Lily said abruptly. "I need to sleep."

"Its six o'clock, sweetie."

"I'm aware," Lily replied, "Goodnight."

Jennifer watched as her friend walked unsteadily up the stairs leading to the girl's dormitories.

"What happened?" a voice asked at her ear. Jennifer turned to see Peter, who had clearly abandoned his studying for gossip. Remus, too, was approaching.

Good. Jennifer would tell them the story and _they _could deal with it.

"Well," Remus said dryly once she was finished. "At least the plan worked."

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><p><strong>Reviews make for a happy bunny =D<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**After a long wait (if anyone was waiting), here you have it!**

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><p><em><strong>The Problem with Loud Arguments<br>**_

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><p>"Stop looking at me like that, Moony," James said for the sixth time that day, breaking off his conversation with Sirius to shoot an injured look at his friend. Remus was staring pointedly at him over his copy of <em>The Beast Within –<em> some Muggle book he'd borrowed from Evans – but at the mention of his nickname, he lowered his eyes down again, though not, James noticed, without rolling them first. This, of course, irritated him greatly. He opened his mouth to say something harsh, but was interrupted by Sirius coming to his defence.

"Lay off him, Remus, he's already apologised to Evans about twenty times," Sirius' voice was exasperated, and Remus proceeded to respond exactly not at all as he turned the page.

"Would have apologised if she'd even _listen _to me," James added morosely.

"And it's not," Sirius continued, "Like it's his fault. It's yours, mostly."

This did evoke a response. "Mine?" Remus asked incredulously, lowering his book completely and staring. "How is James _using _Lily like that some sort _my _fault?" Snapping the book closed, he turned to the man in question, "I'm sorry, James; I do a lot for you and I forgive a lot, but I won't accept blame for this."

Sirius continued virtuously, speaking over whatever James was about to respond with. "But it is, though," he insisted. "Yours, and..._her's." _His eyes narrowed as the dark-haired Seeker appeared behind Remus with Peter in tow, dropping the books in her hands unceremoniously on to the wood of the table.

"You weren't complaining about our plan when you thought you were getting sex out of it," Jennifer pointed out coolly as she plopped down beside Remus and reached for the bacon, then promptly ignored him. Sirius opened his mouth to say something in retort, but Peter was the one to interrupt this time.

"Lily wants to see you at six tonight," he said to James as he took his own seat and attained some cornflakes. He took no notice of the offended look on Sirius' face; much as he disliked arguing and shouting, he was used to the arguments between Sirius and Jennifer. The whole of Gryffindor tower was used to them, actually. This particular one which had taken place on the night of the Hogsmeade Incident, as Peter called it, had began at eight o'clock and ended in Professor McGonagall being called to the Common Room to sort it so that the Gryffindors could get some sleep that night. As a result, everyone and their aunt knew about the Hogsmeade Incident, and it seemed like the whole school was taking sides. And loyal as he was to James and Sirius, Peter agreed with Jennifer on this one; James had been very in the wrong, and Sirius had also been wrong to defend him.

"No, Pete," James said in a tone which was both despairing and gentle, like a severely depressed person explaining to a small child how they were wrong. "Lily doesn't want to see me. Lily _hates _me."

"Lily doesn't hate you," Peter said cheerfully. "She doesn't _like _you, but you two are head boy and girl, and do have work to do together."

"Besides," Jennifer added with a slight drawl, amused at Peter's blithe bullying, "She isn't bothered about your absolutely despicable behaviour any more."

"Yes, she's way too distracted by spending time with Rhys Phillips these days," Peter added nonchalantly, smiling and standing up to go as he finished his cornflakes. The confused look on James' face was slightly hurtful on his conscience, but really, James _shouldn't _have been so mean to poor Lily.

When Jennifer looked up from her bacon a few minutes after Peter left the Great Hall, she found all three of the remaining boys staring at her. Remus, his brow wrinkled like it usually did when something confused him, was the first to speak. "Rhys is the captain of the Astronomy club, isn't he?" he asked mildly.

"Oh yes, he's really friendly," Jennifer replied. "You'd know him when you see him, big guy, brown hair, lovely brown eyes, really gentle-"

"Wait, you mean _Phillips_? That prat on the Hufflepuff team?"

"I don't know what it is to you, Bla-"

"_Gentle?"_

"Yes, gentle!" Jennifer replied indignantly, her temper flaring at his mocking tone. "He's-"

"He's their _Beater!"_

Around them, the Gryffindors who were finishing breakfast were suddenly realising they had other appointments elsewhere, and a first year a few spaces down on the bench could be dimly heard to say to his friend that now would be the _perfect _time to open a Howler with no embarrassment.

"Doesn't he have a bit of a...reputation?" Remus asked hesitantly, not wanting to get involved, but his curiosity getting the better of him. Neither participant in the argument paid him any heed, but James snapped his attention to his lycanthropic friend. "Reputation?" he demanded.

"I don't know," Remus replied, wishing dearly that he'd not said a thing. "I could be mistaken, I've just heard some...rumours...about him and some girls..."

"Jennifer, are they going out?" James demanded, and the arguing stopped at once as Jennifer turned to answer him, icy retort at the ready, and paused. Something in his face made her answer his question seriously.

"I dunno, James, honestly," she replied with a slight frown. "She's barely spoken to _me _since the whole thing last weekend, but I do know she's been spending a lot of time with Phillips lately. To be honest, I don't like him much either. Seems a bit fishy to me."

"Oh, wind him up by complimenting the prat, why don't you," Sirius muttered. "That's not bitchy at all."

"Right, so someone acts like a total bastard to my friend and suddenly _I'm _the bitch—where are you going, James?"

She didn't get an answer as James stormed out of the Great Hall, leaving the three behind him in silence. Remus barely had a moment to enjoy the quiet before:

"It's _bitchy _to be so bloody passive aggressive all the time!"

Remus wondered to himself where Peter had gotten to, and decided it would be much more peaceful to go find him instead of being here.

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><p>Lily was not expecting the door of the otherwise unoccupied classroom to burst open, but her surprise immediately changed to indignation when she saw the responsible party.<p>

"This looks cosy," James Potter said coldly, staring at where Lily sat behind a desk on top of which was perched the Hufflepuff beater.

"Look, mate, we're busy here," the Welsh teenager said, getting to his feet, "So if you could just leave..."

"Don't tell me what to do, _mate. _I want to talk to the head girl, and I'd appreciate if you left."

"She doesn't want to see _you, _Potter," Rhys shot back. "Leave."

"Who are you to say what she wants?"

"Please, the whole school knows-"

Lily saw James' hand fly to his pocket and stood up, her chair clattering to the floor as she did so. "Stop it," she demanded. "Rhys, can you please go? I'd like to sort this out, and we can continue tomorrow." The harsh look on Rhys' face left, replaced by a smile and a nod. He approached, kissed her hand, left. And then there were two.

"What are you playing at," Lily demanded flatly.

"I don't want to see you all cosied up with some scummy-" James began hotly.

"You lost your right to an opinion last weekend, thank you very much!" Lily interrupted, arms folded.

"I'm just trying to look after you! Honestly, you always go for the creeps; Phillips and his pervertedness and-"

"Don't you _dare _say 'Snape', Potter!"

"Well it's true! Why do you even care anymore anyway? He treated you like dirt!"

"_You _treated me like dirt!" Lily retorted, feeling herself heat up.

"I did not!" James cried, "I bloody kissed you because I wanted to!"

"And because Severus was there!"

"Alright, it was poorly timed, yeah, but for Merlin's sake, Lily, I would have kissed you anyway! I bloody love you, and spending that day with you was the best day of my life, and now you won't even speak to me!"

"Well maybe it was the best day of my life too and I was hurt because you _ruined _it!"

James was brought up short. "What?" he asked, his voice lowered from a shout to barely a whisper.

Lily, however, continued with a raised voice, "And _maybe _I agreed to take Astronomy lessons with that _creepy _Phillips, even though he kept coming on to me, because I knew it would make _you _jealous!"

"Why are girls so _spiteful?_" James shot back, voice rising again.

"I'm spiteful? What about you?" Lily yelled back.

"Maybe I don't _like it _when creeps insult the girl I fancy and she lets herself get upset about it for years and they won't leave her alone!"

"Well maybe I fancy you too, and I don't like it when you make a prat of yourself and make me angry!"

James barely registered what she'd said, barrelling on with his rant, "And _maybe _I'm sick of being rejected when I've been in love with you for _years _and I still see you holding a torch for someone that hurt you so much! My head can't take much more being messed with!"

"Well maybe we should just go out then and clear your head once and for all!" Lily snapped.

"Maybe we should!"

"Maybe that's what I wanted all along and didn't want to admit it!"

"Maybe it was!"

"Well I guess we're going out then!" Lily shouted, grabbing her bag from the floor and slinging it around her shoulder violently.

"I guess we are!" James shot back.

"Good! Fine! I'll see you at six!" Lily replied with loud venom, storming towards the door.

"Fine! Bye!" James retorted.

Just as Lily reached the door, it swung open to reveal the mischievous grin on the face of one Albus Dumbledore. "As please as I am for you two," the headmaster said, his eyes twinkling with amusement at their stunned faces, "Can I request that you keep it down? I'm afraid some of the first years just reported some terrifyingly loud ghost arguments, and the poor things were quite frightened."

"Y...yes! Sorry, Headmaster!" Lily stuttered, but Dumbledore was already strolling away after a wink in James' general direction. She turned to face the latter now, seeing a look of stunned bewilderment that echoed what she felt as what had just happened sank in. "Uh, six," she said awkwardly, then bolted out of the room.

"Six," James repeated, dazed, as the door slammed behind her.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Quick update this time! I haven't much to say except that the last scene of this was incredibly fun to write ^^ Enjoy~**

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><p><em><strong>The Problem with Gossip<br>**_

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><p>The door creaked open at around two in the morning, ignored by all the sleeping seventh-years within except for the one who was already sitting awake, making holographic sheep prance around in a circle at the tip of her wand. Lily stuffed the wand under her bedsheets automatically as she looked up to see the intruder - an automatic reaction after spending Christmas at home with Petunia and her annoying fiancé – but freed it again reasonably quickly.<p>

"You look rather dishevelled," she said lightly as Jennifer threw herself down onto the adjacent bed.

"Bugger off, Lily," she muttered, stuffing her head under pillow over her face. "I'm going to sleep."

Lily laughed, getting up and padding over to sit on the edge of her best friends' bed. "Busy night?" she asked, unable to keep the teasing tone out of her voice. "Must you always get so, ahem, _passionate _to solve your worst arguments with Black?"

"What made you think that?" Jennifer demanded, indignant, peeping out from under the pillow, her voice loud enough to make Mary groan and turn over in her sleep a few beds over. Lily just stared at her until Jennifer hid her face again, saying it was none of her business, anyway.

Silence for a moment, and then; "So...Jen, can I ask you something?"

"_What."_

"Are you, um...in love with Sirius?"

Lily received a pillow in her face as an answer. "In love? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I don;t care. Why do you care? I want to _sleep_."

More silence.

"It's just that you can't seem to stop seeing each other eventually, no matter how many other-"

"Lily!" Jennifer sat up now, looking decidedly grumpy. "Me and Sirius just have fun, alright? There's no need to think about it more. Why are you asking? Why do you suddenly want to talk now? You've all-but avoided me for the last week."

"I haven't meant to-"

"And I suppose you still want me to go to that stupid dinner in a couple of weeks with you and your priggish sister and her ball of lard, too," Jennifer groaned, reaching for her pillow again and lying back down. "Let me sleep."

"No, actually," Lily said after a few seconds.

"Oh for...what are you _talking _about?"

"I don't need you to go anymore, since you never really wanted to anyway."

"_Good. _Go to _bed._"

"I'm going to take my boyfriend instead. I think it would be much better for us all, actually; everyone getting to know one another in the family. Besides, Tuney doesn't exactly like you, and I really think this way is safer for everyone," Lily explained, heading back to her own bed and lying down.

"Good. I hate her too," Jennifer mumbled.

Lily lay staring at the top of her four-poster bed, counting in her head as she did so. _One...two..._

"Boyfriend?" A scuffling sound, and suddenly Jennifer was beside her on her bed, wand lit, demanding answers. "Please, _please _tell me you are _not _dating that Phillips. I mean, I know he's gorgeous and everything, but..."

"I am _not _going out with Rhys," Lily interrupted, voice raised slightly.

Jennifer blinked. "Then who? Joshua Greene? I know he's had his eye on you, but he didn't really seem your type, and..."

"No!"

"Wright?"

"No, don't be silly, it's..."

"Shit, did you get with _Finley? _I saw the two of you bantering after the match, but I never thought...!"

"Jennifer! I'm going out with James!"

The whole world seemed to skip a beat at those words. "James? James...McCarthy?" Jennifer asked slowly.

Why in the world Jennifer was even mentioning the fifth year Gobstones champion, Lily didn't know. "No you dolt!" she laughed, "James _Potter._"

Lily here paused, watching her friends' face, waiting for the reaction, hoping against hope that she wasn't about to be called a complete idiot.

What she didn't expect was the huge grin. "I _knew _you wanted him! I told you so!"

"Yes, yes," Lily said, trying to not get irritated at Jennifer's utter look of triumph.

"Oh, Lilypop, this is the best thing you have ever _done _for me!" Jennifer continued.

"For _you?"_

"Yes! Remus and I just won forty galleons each!"

Lily couldn't, at this point, resist the urge to slap her friend. She felt fairly justified, too.

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><p>"You guys," James cried out, barging into the dormitory early the next morning and ripping open the curtains of the three occupied beds. "You guuuuuuuuys, wake up. Wake up wake up wake up. Wake uuuuuuuup."<p>

Remus, who was already sitting reading in his bed, and did therefore not need to 'wake up', cast a critical eye over his friend. "You look exhausted, Prongs," he said, taking in the skewed glasses and the rumpled, dirty clothing. "Have you slept?"

"Yeah, I think so," James answered distractedly, "Must've dozed off next to the Lake. Woke up at Hagrid's, got a telling off. Apparently I was going to scare the animals or something. Anyway, _listen!"_

Peter, who had been curled up in the foetal position in his bed, slowly untangled himself from his quilt. "I was having a good dream," he said resentfully, "And I have to go see Professor McGonagall about my grade again today, so I hope there's a good reason for waking us up this early."

"There is! Shut up, Wormtail, and listen. I...Padfoot, wake the hell up!"

A bang, and a boxer-clad Sirius was tossed out of his bed onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, groaning and wiping the hair out of his face, ready to attack whoever had taken him out of that lovely cat-chasing dream, when he paused, taking one look at James, and groaned more loudly and disappointedly. "You total wanker," he muttered.

"Nice to see you with clothes on, Sirius," Remus said dryly, "If you can call it that."

"That wasn't what you were saying last night," Sirius replied, momentarily distracted by the opportunity to make such a flippant remark and earning an eyeroll from his friend.

James raised an eyebrow, looking both curious and impatient, and was rewarded by Peter explaining how Sirius had decided to escort his ladyfriend to the dormitory door last night _without _having the decency to clothe himself first. Sirius loudly pointed out that the four of them should have no secrets from one another, and therefore he didn't see the problem.

"Speaking of which," he added darkly, looking back at James. "Congratulations, I guess."

Remus smiled to himself. So he wasn't the only one who had noticed the change then. "Yes, I do agree, although much more enthusiastically so. Congratulations, Prongs."

"What?" Peter asked.

James looked, and sounded, confused. "How did you guys...?"

"It's written all over you, mate," Sirius replied in a dull tone. "And I need to borrow forty galleons, because I owe this prat and Jennifer twenty each."

Peter's confusion cleared, replaced with excitement. "You mean! You and Lily! This is _great!" _His expression sank suddenly. "I, eh...need to borrow forty too, Prongs..."

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><p>If James was bothered by the denial of his friends allowing him to make a grand announcement that his life's goal had come to pass, it wouldn't matter for very long. The minute he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, he was congratulated by about twenty different people, about three of whom he could put a name to. At the Gryffindor table, he could just about make out his red-headed angel being accosted by many more.<p>

"How do they even all know?" he asked, exasperated, as five minutes later he was still accepting "good-on-you-mate"s from people he barely knew.

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, then burst out laughing. "Your little soap-opera romance has kind of been the talk of the school for about, what, two years now?" Sirius pointed out as the Marauders finally reached the table and were greeted by Lily and a beaming Jennifer.

"And you know how news travels in this school," Remus added. Jennifer grinned, bobbing her head at a gaggle of Gryffindor girls who kept whispering to each other, glancing over, and giggling.

"Those midget gems are getting the gossip now," she told them, "The oldest one is Rhiannon's cousin; Rhi must have heard us chatting last night, Lily, love. I _am _still allowed to call her that, right?"

James grinned and nodded, taking it into his stride quickly and slipping an arm around his girlfriend's (oh, ecstasy, that he could use that word!) waist. Some of the younger Gryffindors and those from other houses and years were craning their necks towards the table, trying to figure out what was going on. Jennifer met eyes with Sirius, grinned, and got to her feet. "A toast!" she cried out, loud enough that she was heard by a good percentage of the hall, causing quiet to fall in a wave "To Lily Evans and James Potter!"

Sirius, determined to go one better, glanced at his friends and then stepped up onto the table, raising his orange juice glass with him and avoiding the food skillfully, and the few that were still talking fell silent and stared at him. "Let us be the first to say, finally!" he continued, amused by the mortified expression on Lily's face as she hid her head in James' shoulder. The latter, of course, looked delighted. Sirius pointed his glass at the pair. "May all your children be bespectacled!"

"With James' Quidditch skills!" Peter added, scrambling to his feet on the bench.

"And Lily's intelligence," Remus added, grinning and taking his place on his feet beside Peter.

For a couple of minutes, James was certain he could have heard a pin drop, and wondered how much trouble his friends were about to be in. Then something wonderful happened.

"To Lily and James," said a cheerful, quiet-but-powerful voice from the top of the room, and every eye turned to the teachers' table, where the Headmaster was on his feet, glass held out in toast.

"Lily and James!" came a hearty cry as Horace Slughorn, chortling, followed suit. The cry was echoed across the room, loudest, of course, at the Gryffindor table, and non-existent at the Slytherin table – though James would not let Lily look over there; he could feel the slimy eyes burning into his back as they sat. Sirius took his seat, followed by the rest, and held out a hand to Lily, "Truce?" he asked, grinning.

Lily smirked. "I can't believe you did that," she answered, shaking his hand. "You too, Peter, Remus. _Jen. _ You're all _awful."_

"Wonderful, you mean," James corrected her, beaming.

"Quite," said Remus. "Now, if I'm not mistaken...ah, there it is."

"What?" asked Lily.

"The chanting. Welcome to the life of a celebrity couple for the next week or so, you two," he explained, grinning, as the "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" got louder.

James, of course, with a glance around at his adoring fans, was happy to oblige.

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